Hi, friends! Welcome to Equip 4:12. I’m Bill Venard. Let me give you a little background on who I am and what this website is about. In high school, I was that kid that seemed to never be paying attention. I hated high school. Tried sports with little success. Art kind of held my attention, but I never really pursued it seriously then. Although, I guess a little bit of an artsy-fartsy side of me began to emerge in the form of music.

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During my teens, it was music that grabbed my attention. I wanted to be a rock star. After all, the Beatles did it so why not me? During that time and into my twenties I played in local bands and even cut a record. Impressive, huh? My artsy side continued to progress as I eventually pursued photography in college, a family tradition that went back two generations. During college, I married my high school sweetheart and, eventually, we opened a photography studio. Unfortunately, I didn’t know much, or care much, for the business side of it. As you might guess, it crashed and burned after a few years. Lesson learned…the hard way. Usually the best kind.

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Enter Jesus!  In 1981 He got my attention and held it. It was then that my passion for studying and teaching the Bible came alive and began to grow. In 1984 my wife and I packed up a U-Haul and headed off to seminary with our three kiddos in tow. Didn’t know how God would provide for us but believed that He would while holding to the promise of Matthew 6:33… “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”

 

We had only a little money to survive a few months. We believed that if this was truly God’s leading He would provide all that we needed. He did. In amazing ways. We saw Him meet our needs for food, shelter, cars, medical expenses, seminary expenses, and much more so many times over those four years, it would take a very long time to describe them all. We look back on those four years as possibly the sweetest time we had with the Lord. God also blessed us with our fourth child then.

 

After pastoring a small church in Indiana for about six years, in 1994 we eventually moved to Michigan where I became a corporate safety trainer. It was during that time when God brought those creative gifts of teaching, writing, and photography together in a corporate setting which eventually led to the birth of an idea. This website...EQUIP 4:12.

 

Here God has taken what I learned as a trainer, my passion to serve Him, teach His Word, and equip others, and combined them with the creative gifts and talents He has given me to create this blog. Based on Ephesians 4:12, I want to provide my readers with the tools to equip them to both better understand the reasons behind their faith and, in the spirit of 1 Peter 3:15, to equip them with answers to those with questions about the hope we have because of our faith in Jesus.

 

I also want to direct you to a couple of other tools that I have created in the form of two books. I have written each with the express purpose of helping you understand who you are in Christ in "The Exchange"  and challenge you to grow as a difference-maker in "Be The Difference."

 

Please explore this site to find tools that will help you grow in your faith. While you're at it, please click on the book titles above to learn more and to order your copy. Thank you for stopping by.

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Blessings and shalom!​

Bill